“You are acting irrationally. The dog was never in any danger.”
“Well, I did not know that, did I?” She glared at him.
“You could catch a cold.”
He said it with such sincerity that she could only stare at him. He could not actually be concerned about her well-being. Could he?He might be stranger than me.
She fought the urge to squirm under his gaze. He stared at her as if she were a fascinating puzzle for him to figure out. Usually, when she stared at this long, there was mockery or derision involved. Instead, he looked intrigued by her. She was not used to someone paying attention to her for so long, especially without yelling at her.
“Oh, there she is!” Someone shouted, laughing.
Evan looked in the direction of the voice. “I believe you are the one who might need rescuing now.” He smirked, which only infuriated her.
She turned away from him, ready to make a run for it, but his hand circled her wrist and held her still again. “Your lips are turning blue,” he said quietly. “You have to change clothes.”
“Stop looking at my lips!” She blurted out. Why did he have to notice everything about her? She doubted anyone had ever paid this much attention to her before. She yanked her hand awayand took three large steps away from him before a small crowd of partygoers sidestepped the bushes and saw them.
Lord Heeway was one of the people who saw them. Annoyance flashed in his eyes at the sight of his future sister-in-law before he startled slightly at the sight of the duke. “Your Grace!” he said. “I did not see you there. How are you? I assumed you were feeling unwell when you rejected my invitation to my engagement party.” Despite the polite smile on his face, there was a hint of condemnation in his tone.
“I am perfectly healthy, Lord Heeway, thank you for asking,” the duke said smoothly. “I simply did not want to come.”
Marina’s jaw dropped at such a blunt answer. She barely stopped herself from letting out a bark of laughter.
Ladies from the party quickly surrounded the duke. “Your Grace, it is so good to see you!” One of them simpered. “How heroic of you to save her from the river!”
“Yes!” another one said. “It was very fortunate that you were there to save such a reckless young lady. Oh, my goodness, what a cute little dog you have!”
Marina felt herself relax as she looked at the spectacle. She might have made a fool of herself, but no one was acting as if they had been found in a compromising position together, and it looked like people were already starting to ignore her again.
I might have caused a scandal or two, but nothing that I cannot come back from with time.
She reached behind her in a halfhearted attempt to salvage her hair. As she did so, the duke’s eyes slid to look at her, and he froze. Others turned to follow his gaze.
Horror dawned on Marina when she realized the water had loosened the laces of her dress. When she lifted her arms up to fix her hair, the dress had slid down, exposing her chest.
People gasped as they stared at her. “Scandal!” Someone whispered.
“Her dress!” Another person said.
“Poor girl,” said a condescending voice. “She is truly ruined after this.”
Marina silently agreed. There was no coming back from this. She closed her eyes and wished she could wake up from this nightmare, but she knew there was no chance of that.
The one time people notice me, and it has to be now.
Chapter Three
After a long, silent carriage ride, Marina finally breathed a sigh of relief when they arrived at Shirley Manor in London. As soon as they were out of the carriage, her mother spoke. “Marina, upstairs,” she said, her voice clipped with rage. “Before you cause complete ruin to the family.”
Marina nodded and went upstairs. Her sisters were right behind her. She felt a rush of gratitude about that.
“It will be all right,” Amelia half-heartedly said as they entered Marina’s bedchamber together. “So, your dress got a little ruined after you heroically saved a poor little pup. It is not the end of the world.”
Marina groaned and flopped on her bed. “The dog was never in danger, apparently. And my dress was more than a little ruined.” The dress had not revealed all of her chest, but definitely enough to completely destroy her.
Her younger sister, Bethany, sat down at Marina’s vanity and started to undo her hair. “The ton has seen much worse,” she said, even though her voice didn’t have its usual confidence. “They will forget about it soon enough.”
“Not this,” Marina muttered. “I already had a reputation for being peculiar, and now this.”
